Ramaphosa promises to build house for family of schoolgirl killed by taxi

President Cyril Ramaphosa has promised the family of one of three Durban schoolgirls killed when they were struck by a taxi while walking to school earlier this month that he will build them a house.

Metha Ngiba, 71, from KwaMashu township’s K-section, told Ramaphosa during a door-to-door campaign on Saturday that her heart was still broken after the death of one of the schoolgirls who shared a bed with her.  She said she would sometimes wake up and touch her side of the bed thinking she was there.

"I had hope that she would grow up and fix what is not right a home. My heart is broken, especially about the house and the toilet. I am very old and a pensioner looking after 11 people," she said.

Ramaphosa promised her that they would do something for her.

"There is something we’re going to do but we won’t be able to say right but we have heard you,” he said. He also offered his condolences to the family about their loss.

"We know it’s difficult and the pain that you are feeling is also felt by us. But we’re happy that you allowed us to come and see how you live," he said.

Ramaphosa also asked the elderly woman if she was getting her pension and she responded positively but complained that some people were not getting theirs.

She later told the TimesLIVE that she was so happy that the president had visited her home.

"I never thought the president would set foot in my yard. I’m so happy that he came here and he promised that he would do something," she said.

The president also had a warm welcome from 90-year-old Ntokazi Ndlovu who described the government as her "husband because it provides for me through the pension".

However, Ndlovu asked Ramaphosa to build her an RDP home for her 19 grandchildren and he promised that the government would look into that.

After his door-to-door campaign, Ramaphosa, who was accompanied by ANC provincial chairman Sihle Zikalala, addressed ANC supporters at a nearby sports field in the township’s C-section where he pleaded with them to vote for the ANC on May 8.

He asked ANC volunteers to wake up early on election day and go from house to house to woo people to vote for the party.

"This is a crucial election. We must remember that we have an appointment with the president. I’m asking you volunteers to make sure that on May 8 you must wake up people from house to house and street to street so that they can go and vote for the ANC. I’ll be out on the [voting] line at 5am on that day," he said.

"We must make sure that the youth comes out in large in numbers to vote for the ANC. KwaMashu must ensure that the ANC wins. We trust you in KwaMashu. The country is looking at you because it is here that we’ll get a lot of votes."

Ramaphosa said there was no single party that was like the ANC.

"The ANC is the one which brought us freedom. The ANC is the one that struggled for us to be where we are today. So we got our freedom from the ANC. On April 27 we will be celebrating 25 years since the ANC took power. Twenty-five years of good work that has been done by the ANC. Twenty-five years of progress that has been made by the ANC," he said.

He also told ANC supporters that the ANC was changing people’s lives for the better. The government was spending billions of rand for social grants, he said.

"There is no government in Africa that is doing such a good job. The ANC is taking care of the people. People that we visited told us that they need their houses to be fixed because they are leaking. Our municipality has started a project to fix old houses and it has also started a project to build houses. Houses will be built here where you live so that those people who have no houses can get them. That’s what we’re doing all over South Africa. We have built 4.3 million houses.

"But if you look at other countries, you find that in most of them they do build house but once those houses have been completed they are sold to the people. But here we build houses and give them to the people free of charge. We spend about R160,000 to build a house which is given free of charge. There is not a single country in the whole of Africa that gives houses for free to the people,” he said.

Ramaphosa said the government had a programme to build 1 million houses all over the country which would be given to the people for free.

Ramaphosa also took his campaign trail to Umlazi township, south of Durban, where he also conducted door-door visits and addressed a public meeting at Sukuma primary school sports field.

He was set to wrap up his activities by making a courtesy appearance at the maskandi music concert at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday night.